Talk:Cradle of Affliction/@comment-31101542-20191025174055
Here is my lore: According to the game, the whole situation started when this kid begged the high heavens for forgiveness for his guilt. The way i interpret this is not as a blessing (the child wanted forgiveness) but as a sign from heaven that we, people, must be responsible for ourselves and look to save ourselves rather than to pray for a solution and await for an answer. This is why i believe this: God or whichever entity exists as a higher being in the game's lore exists as a passive lord, something that all fathers should know, for it is the job of the parents to teach their children that solutions do not come from others, they must learn to own up to what they did themselves. Well balanced adults are the ones who accept they made a mistake and move on, whereas poorly raised children will always blame others and try to martyr themselves by accusing the world of who they are or what they do. I believe that this otherworldly entity was fed up with the pain this child suffered and refused to accept his responsibility in causing that he decided to 'help' him by giving him exactly what he wanted: pain and suffering. This is, in my own humble opinion, the first Miracle, which by definition is: an effect or extraordinary event in the physical world that surpasses all known human or natural powers and is ascribed to a supernatural cause. By way of this, the entity now decided to teach the people below him a lesson: their prayers would be answered in literal ways. The game makes a show of this thanks to the bossfights, creatures and events that you witness throughout it: Deogracias is 'blessed' with trying to know everything about the Miracle, yet he knows he can never achieve it; Altasgracias (the triple faced girl) did not want to marry so she prayed for help, and what she received was hideousness; Quirces was unjustly burned at the stake and he was manifested back to life by the Miracle, but forever in pain due to the fire that scorched him. Hell (no pun intended), even Escribar, the physical representative of the High Wills which itself is a representation of the Miracle, could do nothing to stop it, and thus turned his throne around before having it burned by greedy priests who yearned for the position. Once he came out, the Brotherhood of the Silent Sorrow, warriors vowed to never speak, upon seeing the truly tyrannical form of government implemented by Escribar's changed form, decided that he needed to be killed to stop his senseless madness, which explains why the Brotherhood is all but destroyed. This is where the higher entity enters into play (as does the player): The 'Miracle' manifests itself for the one and only time onto someone who did not ask for it: The Penitent One. He is the only suirvivor of the slaying of his entire temple, and acquires Mea Culpa (My Guilt) from the Mother statue, heavily theorized to be Escribar's mother who begs The Miracle to punish her for her son's insanity, which transforms into the sword. Here is the part that truly seals the deal for me: the endings. The first 'bad' ending represents the Penitent One trying to climb the mountain of ash to reach the throne, but since he is still full of 'sin' he is not allowed to reach it and gets sucked up by the pile. In order to get the 'best' ending, you must destroy the confessor statues and face the (gamewise, not too hard) challenges within after dying 3 times with the Immaculate Bead. This is the important point: If you die during the game, as you know, you leave behind your Guilt Fragment behind, a reminder of your failure on your quest every time the Miracle resurrects you. You then have two options: recover the Guilt fragment left behind, or go to a confessor statue and pay for forgiveness. However, if you destroy the statues, you can enter the portals under them and fight a battle to receive a message after you win: "Detestatio Sacrorum", which literally meant to forego or to stop following an oath (Of note it is important to observe that you do NOT reduce your guilt if you win in these dungeons). This is the very essence of the game: they are trying to tell you that in order to reach the true ending and to be worthy of sitting in the throne to stop the Miracle from manifesting itself in Cvstodia, you must forego the rituals of forgiveness by others and instead 'fight your own demons' (the dungeons under the confessor statues) and learn to live and forgive yourself from sin, and not to pray to others for salvation. Once you do these things (note that is is the ONLY requirement to achieve the best ending; everything else in the game is completely optional and does not alter the ending at all), then and only then can you climb the mountain of ash to the now empty throne, and then does the Miracle stop for the Penitent One: he achieved what he set out to do and found forgiveness for himself rather than for others. The Miracle does not bring him back, as now the otherworldly entity accepts his pure sacrifice and ends the manifestation of the Miracle all across the land, which is clearly visible in the ending, where others can now climb the now harmless ash mountain and not be absorbed by it, respectfully admire the Penitent One's sacrifice and his part in stopping the manifestations of the Miracle. It is curious to note that Escribar and The Penitent One are opposites: Whereas one talks constantly and punishes others, the Penitent One seeks redemption for himself and others. Whereas one decided to be quiet and not try to stop the Miracle, the Penitent One decided to seek out an answer. Whereas Escribar decided to not sacrifice himself, The Penitent one does. And of course, there is Cristanta, who serves the order that directly serves Escribar, and one of the destroyers of the Brotherhood. The fact that her order is blind is another allegory to the theory i have here heretofore mentioned, that she BLINDLY follows the orders of others, instead of living her own life and following her own path like The Penitent One. Of more relevant note is that she ends the game by pulling Mea Culpa out of the chest of the Penitent One, meaning that the Miracle will once again be manifest unto the world (DLC? i hope so!) What does this mean for the sequel/dlc? I believe that it will involve Cristanta obviously, hopefully as a playable character, and the quest to make her 'see' and to stop being blind about the problems that she has caused with her blind faith, hopefully ending in redemption for herself by taking the place of The Penitent One in the ashen throne or maybe by her now having to fight The Penitent One powered by The Miracle (which would make the other bossfights look like nothing by comparison). Thank you for reading this, and if you like it, follow me on twitch: sopamanxx is my name there.